Embodiments of the present invention relate to an array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof.
Liquid crystal displays are widely used in the field of today's flat panel display. Thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) is a mainstream liquid crystal display.
The liquid panel of a liquid crystal display comprises an array substrate and a color filter substrate which are bonded with each other, wherein the array substrate typically comprises a base substrate. Horizontally aligned gate lines and vertically aligned data lines are crossed with each other on the base substrate. The data lines and the gate lines define a plurality of pixel units in each of which a TFT switch and a pixel electrode are provided. A TFT switch comprises a gate electrode connected to a gate line, a source electrode connected to a data line, a drain electrode connected to a pixel electrode and an active layer formed between the source electrode, the drain electrode and the gate electrode. In order to insulate adjacent layers, a gate insulation layer is provided on the gate line and the gate electrode; a passivation layer is provided on the data line, the source electrode, the drain electrode and the active layer; the pixel electrodes formed on the passivation layer is electrically connected to the drain electrode by a drain electrode via hole. In addition to the pixel region comprising the pixel cells, there is an interface region around the pixel region on the array substrate. Data line interface via holes and gate line interface via holes are formed in the interface region, so as to expose the date lines and the gate lines and then connect them to a driving circuit.
The various conductive patterns and via holes mentioned above are commonly formed by patterning processes with masks. Five or four patterning processes are needed to fabricate various patterns in the existing technology. It is know that less manufacturing steps can decrease the manufacturing facilities, improve the efficiency and reduce the cost. Therefore, how to simplify the procedure is one of the main research points on the liquid crystal display.